Leather-skiving machine



Feb. 20, 1923.

G. E. BRITTAIN LEATHER SKIVING MACHINE 4 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1920 Feb.20,19123.

11,446,033 G. E. BRlTTAlN LEATHER SKIVING MACHINE.

Filed Feb. 24, 1920 4 sheets-sheet 2 Feb. 20, 1923. I 1,446,033

G. E. BRQTTAIN LEATHER SKIVING MACHINE Filed Feb. 24, 1920 4 sheets-sheet 5 Y Feb. 2Q, 1923 1,446,033 G. E. BRITTAIN I LEATHER S KIVING MACHINE Filcd Feb. '24, 1920 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented Feb 28, 1923.

GEORGE ERNEST en er a n, 0F HAVERHILL, MAssAoHUsErEs, essienon mo -ravine KEITH, or HAVERHILL, MAssaoHUsE'r'rs. I A

LEnTHEE sKIV NG MACHINE.

Application f led February 24, 1920. Serial No. 360,623. I

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,- GEoneE E. Bm'rmiN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Haverhilhcounty of EsseX, State of Ma ssachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Leather-Skiving Machines, oi which the following is a specification. I i

This invention relates to machines for skiving or splitting leather, the preferred I embodiment of which, hereinafterdescribed, is more particularly adapted for leather 'skiving, and is of the type having a fixed knlfe and means for feeding the work theref before, a very substantial saving; is thus inade in the costof the sole, and spite of the labor involved, on accountof the leather saved in cutting out a sole oi": one s ze as compared with a-sole two sizes larger. In performing the. skiving' operation. on soles in the manner above indicated, much difficulty has been encountered, which was partly due to the fact that leather soles are frequently hard and brittle, so that they are diflicult to out and are liable to' break or be torn when skiving is attempted, a

For example, it is desirable to" have the skiving cut made on a long bevel and carried completely through to the grain surface, so that theedges, at the. point of severance, will be as sharp as possible, but, with priorinachines, great difliculty has been encountered due to breaking" of the. sole before the cut was finished, and to'the tendency of the knife to "dig in on hardsoles, and .cut theni on a short bevel.

' In this connection, I have discovered that,

in order thatsatisfactory resultsinay be secured, in. skiving soles which are especially diflicultto cut, it is necessary that the sole beheld against thebedwith a very strong force, by the time the knifehas entered the sole to a substantial extent, and that this will practically correspond the operation.

pressure should be increased upito' the point face, at the end' of the out. Also, when s5. where the knifeouts through the "grain sur I a spring was employed for such purposie,

which'was of sufficient strength to hress the Y sole against the bed of the machine with the desired force, th f requiredto'bring the parts into the proper relatidnQtoqstart the orfoot operated levers, whichcould be con} venlently einployed for" this p'urposejv An Ob ect' of my invention is to" provide a skiving operation was too great to' permit I thisto be done quickly and-easily,fwith"hand machine, of tlhecharacter abovedndicated,

which is especially adapted to skive the heel "end port ons of solesxin aira p-idmannenand to fornrfiatpinclined surfaces thereon, so

that, when the parts are attached adhesiyely I in a differentposition, the attaehed surfaces 7' I A iurtherobject'is'toprovide ainachine will be unlikely to-get out of orderfand in rapidlyperformed.

I accomplish these'objects nieans shown in the accompanying"drawings in which Fig. l is a side elevation o position of the parts in .differentstagesiof Figso, 7 and 8are c'letailvi'ews. As shown the drawings, side frames 10 are provided with verticalguideways 11 in which a pa ir'" of bearing" looiiesf'12 are mounted to slide vertically. and a fshaft 1411s journaled in enemi smidis provided} with Figs. 4c and 5 are sectional views through the bed portion of the machine showing. the

which will be of simple construction, and

which this sole skiving operation may be p,

f a leather skivinc" machine embody'lngmy Invent on.

a driving'pulley 16 on one end and a. corruzgated feed "roll 18 at its :interrnediat' 1 tion, said shaft, llltllB'llOIHlHl opera on of the machinebeing driven am constant "speed in the direction of the-arrowiii Fig.1;

The downward Inovenientoilthe boxes 12 I is'liniited by stop serewsl3,"a't the-bottom of the guide'ways', and upwaijdmovemenfioif said boxes is reslsted a pair of relatively light tensio'n springs 15,.whicliare disposed between said boxes and followers 'l i' on the.

lower ends of adjusting screws 19, threaded in a cap piece 21, and by a pair of springs 23 of relatively heavy tension, which are arranged to enclose the springs 15, and act to reinforce the resistance of the springs 15, as hereinafter more particularly described.

The bed of the machine comprises a segmental shaped rear plate 20 mounted, at its ends, on radially disposed arms 22, to swing about a pivot shaft 24, the surface of said plate being curved from the center of said pivot shaft as a center. A. smooth surfaced roll 26 isjournaled in said arms 22 to ro tate freely close to the front edge of said plate 20, said roll having reduced ends 26 which pass through the arms 22, and being so arranged that the surface of the plate is slightly below a plane which would be an exact tangent to the surface of the roll, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, for reasons to be explained. The bed further comprises a front plate 28, having its surface curved on a radius of approximately the same length as that of the plate 20, said plate 28 being provided with cars 29, which are apertured to receive the reduced ends 26 of the roll 26, so that said plate is adapted to swing vertically about the axis of the roll 26 as a center and has its surface practically tangent to the surface of said roll 26.

A rectangular shaped frame 30 is mounted to swing on a pivot shaft 32 beneath the plate 28 and is provided with a friction'roll 34 at each corner, arranged to engage correspondingly located ribs 28 on the under side of the plate 28. A sleeve 36 is fixed on .a shaft 38, adjacent shaft 32, and is pro-- vided with an integral arm 40, which is pivotally connected to one end of a link 42, the opposite end of said link being pivot ally connected to the frame 30, forming a toggle connection between shaft 38 and frame 30. A hand lever &4: is secured to the outer end of the shaft 38 and a lug 45 with a screw 46 therein is secured on the frame 10 in position to limit the operative swinging movement of the lever 44.

A splitting or skiving knife 50 is secured on the machine frame in position to extend beneath the feed roll 18, with its edge in a position somewhat in front of the vertical plane of the axis of the roll, and, under ordinary conditions, is set about g-th of an inch above the level of a horizontal plane which is tangent to the surface of the feedroll at its lowest point.

The arrangement is also such that when the knife is set in this position, its edge will just clear, or will have a shearing action with the surface of the roll 26 in the bed, when the bed is swung to its extreme forward position, in which position the middle of the roll 26 is directly beneath the knife edge.

Suitable means are provided for securing the knife in position to permit transverse adjustment thereof, as by bolts 52, which pass through elongated apertures in the ends of the knife, and abutting screws 5%, which are threaded in lugs 56 in the frame and engage the back edge of the knife, to reinforce the clamping action of the bolts.

The frame is also provided with lugs 58, in which screws 60 are threaded in position to engage the under side of the knife near its back edge, so that the inclination at which the knife is set may be conveniently adjusted. When the leather is very hard and difficult to cut, it is sometimes necessary to raise the level of the knife edge to prevent the out being made on too short a bevel. Special adjusting means may be provided for varying the level of the knife edge, or it may be adjusted by the simple expedient of employing shims under the front portion of the knife where it is clamped. In case the edge of the knife is set higher, it will usually be necessary to adjust the screws 13 to raise the feed roll correspondingly.

In practice, for sole skiving, the initial position of the roll 18, relative to the knife, will be approximately that already described: and shown in Figs. 1 and l. and upward movement of the roll from this position will be resisted by springs 15, only, as the springs 28 are of such length that, when fully expanded, as they are when the boxes 12 are supported by stop screws 13, they will be out of contact with the followers 17, but will be moved into contact therewith when the roll is raised so that its lowest point is approximately at the level of the knife edge, or slightly (about 2) above said level, at which point both pairs of springs will actto resist further upward movement of the feed roll.

A. gage 72 is mounted for adjustment, to and from the feed roll, on rods 7% secured in the rearside of the frame, so that it presents a vertical stop face to the end of a sole inserted between the bed and the feed roll.

The pivot 24, on which the bed swings, is arranged in front of the vertical line from the axis of the feed roll, and said bed is gravity actuated, in all positions to swing to its rearmost position, and an adjustable stop, consisting of a screw 76 in a bracket 77 is provided limit its rearward movement. The forward swinging movement of the bed is limited by a stop screw 78 therein, which is arranged to strike against the rear side of the frame when the latter has been swung forward to a position in which the bed-roll 26 isheld in shearing relation with the edge of the knife, as before described. The length of the scarf which will tween the bed and knife, until its heel end engages the surface of the gage 72, then the operator pulls the hand lever 44 toward the front causing the toggle 40, 42 to-fswing up the frame 30 and thus swing up the bed platesectiton 28, on its pivot 26, so that the sole is lifted into; contact with the 'feedroll '18. Continued upward pressure on the sole willthen cause the feed roll to be lifted against the action of the relatively light tension springs 15 until the sole is brought into contact with the knife,jand'fthe knife is caused to enter the sole:slightly. By this movement the hand lever and parts operated thereby will be lifted to the dotted line J Jan important'function by preventing fur- :ther lifting oft'hebed plate'28 after the'fcut has been started, which' would cause" the position of Fig. 3, in which positioni'the' lever will be engaged with the stop screw 46, which will have beenpreviously adjusted according to the thickness ofthesoles -to'be operated on, so that further movementin this direction will be prevented.

' By this time, the feedroll will be engaged with the sole with suflicient force to feed it back towards the 0perator,'andthe frictional engagement between the sole and the bed will also be suflicient to cause the bed. Y

- the sole (whichlatteradjustment would only to be drawn forward with'the sole. As the bed movesf'orward, the hand lever is held againstv its 'stop,thus supporting theplate-28 in a position which iscine clined to its path of movement, so'that. as it is advanced, its surface approaches the knife edge and reaches the level of'the latter at the end of thecuttingoperationt This'aotion causes a constant lifting of the feed roll all'of which, after theroll has-been lifted, to the level of the knife, is against the action of both pairs of-springsyand as the heavy tension springs23 act practically to their fullest extent as soon as they are compressed at all, the whole cutting operationis performed while the sole in pressed by a strong force against the bed. This arrangement, however, makes: it unnecessary for the operator to strengthen. the'toggle against the action of anything but therli'ght tension springs 15.- i

It will be apparent that, as the sole is advanced, the knife, which is seton a'slight inclination, will cut into the soleamore deeply and will cut through to the'grain" surface when the bed roll26' has been carried into shearing relation with the knife edge, at which point the inclined cut will be finished and the -small piece as will. be

severed from the rest ,of the sole, as

catedinfFig. 5. Thiscut will usuallybe finished at. a short distance3 from the: end of :the sole at which time the end portion of the severed piece as" will 1 be pressed against the bed roll 26 by the feed roll, as

shown in Fig. 5, and as the-bedroll will" prevent appreciable {frictional engagement between the'piece and the bed, thefeed roll will throwthe piece wwout over'theknife- In casethe .cut is finished at some distance i i from. the sole end,Iif the surface of therear plate 20 were level with thelsurface of the bed roll, the frictional engagement, "of the severed piece with said surface would be likely to be sufficient to prevent the feed 'r-oll' from pushing out the pieceontothe To obviate this difficulty, the.sur-

knife. face of-rear plate 20 is'made" lower than 'the tangential position'to the bed roll, so

that. a severed piece, of this form willbe entirely supported on the bed rollas indi-' 'cated in Fig. 6', permitting it tobe dischargedgbythe feed roll. r y

- The stop 46 forthe hand lever performs knife to sink into the leather to a greater extent "for the distance moved, so that the knife. Itfo'llo-ws, therefore, that, by adjusting. .the stop 76, which determines. the

, starting position of the bed and byadjusting the stop 4:6,. according w the thickness of have to be changedjfor; different lots of soles) I the length of'the scarf maybe determined with a great "degree of accuracy. That is,

results will be secured which are as uniform as the characterof the work demands;

The; weight of the bed is so disposed relative to its pivot 24:,"tliat its entire forward movement is against gravity action, which may be reinforcedby aspring 79, so that,- when the bed is in'thev cutting-off position of Fig; 5, it will swing back to its initial position, as soon as the sole P16065127 is-pushed forward onto the knife, unless otherwise prevented from so doing.

'- When the sole' p'iece w becomes disengaged from thefeed roll, the latter will no, longer be sustained thereby, and, "un less means are provided to prevent .it, the, roll will be, forced down. into engagementwith the bed, and prevent the; return movement of the latter, as wellfascause damage. To

obviate suclr difficulty, apair of very stifi spring fi'ngers 80are secured to the surface feed roll. cannot engage its surface under any condition. Smooth, annular surfaces, 18, are formed on the feed roll at each end, inposition to be en aged by said fingers 80, when said feed roll becomes disengaged from the severed piece. When this takes place, the whole force of the springs on the feed roll will be transferred to the fingers 80, which are normally supported out of contact with the bed surface and are adapted to yield tosome extent when the downward action on the roll 18 is transferred thereto, as indicated in Fig. 8. These spring fingers are made sufiiciently stiff to cause a slight rebound of the feed roll after it strikes said fingers so that the return movement of the bed will start while this rebound is taking place. The feed roll then immediately reengages the fingers, which present downwardly inclined surfaces thereto, and is sustained thereby until the bed is retracted sufficiently to withdraw the fingers from be ncath it, by which time the bearing boxes 12 thereof will be resting on the stop screws 13, so that the roll can have no further action on the bed to prevent its return movement.

With the above described machine, the skiving operation, above referred to, may be rapidly performed, the operator merely inserting the sole with one hand, pulling back the lever with the other, and then releasing the lever by the time the cut is finished, so that he may immediately pick up the severed piece and remove the sole, which he retains hold of during the whole of the operation.

While the herein disclosed embodiment of my invention has been shown and described as especially adapted for use in skiving soles, it will be apparent that the machine may be readily adapted for leather splitting, as well as skiving, as it would he merely necessary to readjust the knife, and the initial position of the feed roll to do this. That is, it would be necessary to adjust the knife to a horizontal position, and raise its cutting edge, and to adjust the screws 13, so as to raise the feed roll correspondingly.

In such case, the gage plate 72 would probably be removed and the work would be inserted from the rear side of the machine, if the cut was to be made from one end. The machine could thus be readily adapted for splitting off the grain side of soles for French heels.

I claim 1. In a machine of the character described, a fixed knife, a bed beneath the knife, a vertically movable roll arranged to press the work against said bed in advance of said knife, a support arranged to limit the downward movement of the roll at a point to engage the work below the level of the knife, manually operated means to lift the bed to press the work against the roll and lift it into engagement with the knife, a light tenneaaoss sion spring arranged to resist action to lift the roll from said supports and a relatively heavy tension spring arranged to be inoperative to resist such lifting action during the portion thereof in which the workis raised into operative relation to the knife and operative to resist such action during the remaining portion of the lifting action.

2. In a machine of the character described, a fixed knife, a bed located beneath the knife, manually operated means to force the bed upwardly to press the work into on gagement with the knife, a feed roll arranged for vertical movement in advance of said knife and limited in its downward movement to engage the work below the level of the knife, a light tension spring operative to press said roll downwardly in all positions thereof and a heavy tension spring operative to oppose movement of the roll after the roll has been lifted to an extent sufficient to engage the work with the knife and inoperative to oppose the previous por tion of said lifting movement thereof.

3. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a bed plate reciprocally movable beneath'said knife to carry the work into engagement therewith, a freely rotatable, smooth-surfaced roll mounted at the rear end of-s'aid plate, and arrangedto be moved with said plate into shearing relation with said knife at the end of the forward movement of the 'plate, and a feed roll arranged to press the work against said plate in advance of the knife, and rotated to feed the work towards the knife.

4:. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a bed plate reciprocally movable beneath said knife to carry the work into engagement therewith, a freely rotatable, smooth-surfaced roll mounted at the rear end of said plate, with the work supporting surface of the plate disposed in approximately tangential relation to the surface of the roll, and a feed roll arranged to press the work against said plate in advance of the knife, and adapted to be rotated to feed the work towards the knife.

5. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a supporting member pivotally mounted beneath said knife, a bed plate pivotally connected at its rear end to said member to swing about an axis parallel to the knife edge, manually operated means to force said plate upwardly, a freely rotatable roll journaled on said member and disposed in transverse relation to said'plate at its pivoted end, said roll being arranged to be car ried into shearing relation with said knife at the end of the operative movement of the bed, and means to press the work against said bed plate in advance of the knife.

6. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a supporting member pivotally mounted beneath said knife, a bed plate pivotally connected at its rear end to said menu-- her to swing about an axis parallel to the knife edge, manually operated means to force said plate upwardly, afreely rotatable roll journaled on said'member and disposed in trans-verserelation to said plate at its pivoted end, said roll being arranged to be carried into shearing relation "with said knife at the end of the operativemovement of the bed,'a feed roll arranged to press the work against the bed plate in advance of said knife, and means to rotatesaid roll tofeed shearing relation with th e'knife, said plate having its work supporting surface' disposed in approximately "tangential relation with the surface of the roll,- means to lift said plate to lift the work intoengagementwith saidknife and a feed roll arranged to press the work against said bed it to the knife. I i I 8. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed plate and feed knife, a bed comprising front; a-ndrear plates pivotally connected at adjacent ends, said rear plate being pivotally'mounted in posi tion'to permit said plates to be oscillated beneath the knife in operative relation thereto. a smooth surfaced roll disposed between said plates with its surface forming a por-- tion of the work supporting surface of the bed and j ournaled in said rear plate in position to be moved into shearing relation with said knife when the bed is moved to its forward position, means for pressing the work against said bed and means for swinging said front bed plate upwardly, to lift the work thereon into engagement with the knife.

9. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a feed roll disposed in front of said knife, springs for pressing said roll downwardly, said roll being limited in its downward movement at a point to engage the workbeneath the level of the knife, a bed comprising a rear member pivotally supported beneath the knife, to swing'towards and from the knife, and a front member hinged to said rear member,means to swing said front member upwardly to lift thef work thereon into engagement with said roll and knife, means to operate said roll to feed the work towards the knife, and supports mounted on the rear member and extending over the front member in position to be engaged by said roll at its opposite ends in the advanced position of the bed, to sustain the roll as it becomes disengaged from the work and' perimtit to begraduallylowered, d n

ing the initial; portion of tlie'retu rn movement of the bed;

"10.-In a leather skiving machine, a fixed. knife, a'feed roll disposed in front of said knife, springs'for pressing said roll downwardly, said roll being limited inqits downward movement at a point toengag'e the work. beneath the level of the knife,a. bed comprising a rear member pivotally supported beneath the ykni'feto swing towards and from the knife, and a frontmember hinged to said rearmeinber, meansto swing said front member upwardly to lift the work thereon into engagement with said roll and knife, means to operate said roll tofeed the work towards the knife, and a pair of spring fingers supportedon said rearmember and extendmg over said front member 111130341 tion to be engaged by. saidroll at its opposite ends ,=when the" bed is in its extreme for ward pos tion, to provide a yiel'd'lngfsupport r for the roll, as "it becomes disengaged; from the work and during the lnitlal portion; of

the return movement of the bedh 1.1. In a leather skivingin achineja fixed knife, a feed r011 disposed in" front of said knife. springs "for presslng said roll downw'ardly,said roll being-limited in its downward movement at. a point to engage "the, '1 v work beneathi'thelevel ofthe knife, abedf comprising area'r member'p'ivot'ally supported beneath the knife, to swingtowards and from the knife, and a front memberf hinged to saidrear member, means to swing saidfront member upwardly to lift the work; thereon into engagement with said roll and knife, means to'operate said roll a) feedthe work towards the knife, and apair of'fingersf: supported on sa d rear member and extending over said front member and formed to .provide downwardly inclined surfaces arranged in position to be engaged by'therolhz i when the bed'is in its advanced position and .the roll becomes disengaged from the work.

12. In combination with a fixed knife, a

bed-plate piv'otally mounted beneath said knife, in position tobeoscillated in opera tive relation thereto andconstantly actuated to return from an advanced position to a normally retracted position a feed roll dis-i posed in front ofsaid knife and spring ac tuated to press the work against said bed plate, manually operated means to move said, bed plate upwardly-to, lift the work thereon into engagement with said knife and feed;

roll, and means .to rotatesaid roll to fe'ed the work towards ,theknife, and move the bed-plate by the frictional engagement of j the work therewith. x 13. In combination witha fixed knife, a

bedpivoted in. position to beos'cillated in operating relation with the knife, and yield-- ingly actuated to be retracted from the-knife to an initial position, an adjustable stop to direction by the frictional engagement of the work therewith and an anti-friction de-,

vice in the bed arranged to permit the roll to disengage the work from the bed at the end of the cutting operation.

14. 111 combination with a fixed knife, a bed pivoted in position to be oscillated in operative relation with the knife, and yieldingly actuated to be retracted from the knife to an initial posit-ion, an adjustable stop to limit the retractive movement of said bed, a feed roll arranged in acvance of the knife in position to press the work against the surface of the bed, means to rotate said'roll in a direction to feed the sole towards the knife and to actuate the bed in the same direction by the frictional engagement of the work therewith, and a freely rotatable roll mounted in the bed in position to support the work at the end of the cutting operation, to perwit the feed roll to feed the work thereon, without substantial frictional engagement with the bed and disengage the same therefrom.

15. In a leather skiving machine, a fixed knife, a bed mounted to oscillate beneath said knife in operative relation therewith and having a portion thereof arranged to be advanced into shearing relation with the knife, means to limit the retractive movement of the bed, manually operated means to swing a portion of said bed upwardly to lift the work into engagement with the knife and having an adjustable stop to limit said lifting movement according to the thickness of the work, a feed roll yieldingly actuated to press the work against the bed in advance of the knife and rotated to feed the work to wards the knife, and yieldingly actuated means constantly operative to return the bed to its rearmost position.

16. In combination with a fixed knife, a bed mounted to be oscillated beneath. the knife in operative relation thereto, and comprising a front work-supporting plate, arranged to swing upwardly, to lift the work into engagement with the knife, an arm mounted to swing vertically beneath said plate, and having a friction roll at its free end arranged to be engaged'therewith in all positions thereof, a manually operated lever arranged to swing said arm upwardly to lift said --plate and a feed roll arranged to press the work against said plate in advance of the knife and to be rotated to feed the work towards the knife.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE ERNEST BRITTAIN. 

